Dohnányi - Variations On A Nursery Tune

Sir Donald Tovey was a musicologist, conductor, pianist, composer and music reviewer. His seven-volume series in musical analysis called appropriately enough Essays In Musical Analysis were originally program notes written for symphony orchestra concerts (plus one volume published posthumously that covers chamber music)  and they cover many of the familiar classical pieces in the orchestral repertoire and some that are not so familiar. There purpose as described by Tovey was to act as a guide for the listener to lead to greater enjoyment of classical music. These essays were first published in the 1930's and may seem a little old fashioned in style, but for the classical music lover who wishes to learn more about the art and technical side of orchestral music, they are invaluable. Tovey does have a knack of being able to speak to the beginning listener (although the ability to read music is helpful) as well as the trained musician. All seven volumes of the Essays are on my book shelf and I refer to them often.  More about Tovey later.

Donald Tovey

Ernö Dohnányi was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer.  He was a brilliant pianist and in his early years was compared to Franz Liszt. He made his debut as a pianist in Berlin in 1897 to wide acclaim. He went on to tour Germany and Europe, as well as visiting London and the United States.  There is still a controversy concerning whether Dohnanyi was a Nazi sympathizer in Hungary during World War II. Some say he did all he could to protect his Jewish friends, others say he was instrumental in purging Jews from orchestras and Conservatories in Hungary.  He moved to Austria in 1944 after the Nazis invaded Hungary, which gave cause for some to accuse of him of Nazi sympathizing. After the war he moved to Argentina for political reasons as he suffered harassment for his alleged conduct against Jews during the war. He eventually immigrated to the United States and taught at Florida State University. He went to New York City in 1960 for some recording sessions and died there.

Variations On A Nursery Tune was written in 1914 and is subtitled: For the enjoyment of humorous people and for the annoyance of others. The tune used is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, also known in French as Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman.  It is for written for piano and orchestra and consists of Introduction, Theme, 12 variations, and Coda, all played without a break.
Introduzione, maestoso -  Donald Tovey wrote an essay about this work, and he referred to the heavy and Wagnerian introduction as a "Symphony in woe minor", an apt enough description as the sheer weight of the dominating brass and timpani rumbling gives a feeling of doom and gloom. There is a hint at what is to come by a plodding motive in quarter notes played by the horns of the theme. After the orchestra is done blaring, a solemn march tempo begins. The music dies down, and the proceedings are halted by the way of a loud thump produced by the orchestra.
Tema, allegro - The piano enters and punches out the theme one-finger style, accompanied by pizzicato strings and bassoon.
Variation 1 - The piano gallops along playing the tune to a light accompaniment and glissandos from the harp.
Variation 2 - The horns blare out  the first phrase of the theme, the piano and woodwinds answer. The dialogue continues and then breaks off into the next variation.
Variation 3 - The music is in the style of and quotes phrases of Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto.
Variation 4 -  Woodwinds are the stars in this variation with the bassoons and flutes alternating in a dialogue accompanied by the piano.
Variation 5 - Dohnanyi imitates a music box very effectively with the piano, bells and harp.
Variation 6 - Tovey was quite taken with this variation as he called it, "an etude for pianoforte and wind instruments without parallel in classical or modern orchestration." The piano and woodwinds have a lively discussion with rapid exchanges in music that is on the verge of falling apart in its hectic give and take.
Variation 7 - A grand, somewhat bloated parody of a waltz.
Variation 8 - A march in a minor key with the persistent rhythm of the timpani throughout.
Variation 9 - A scherzo starring the bassoon, xylophone, and contra-bassoon.
Variation 10 - The theme becomes the continuing bass of a passacaglia. The full orchestra plays the theme, solo instruments comment as the music slowly builds and the ominous music of the introduction makes another appearance. The music builds in intensity and finally erupts in a climax that bursts into the major mode.
Variation 11 - The theme is transformed into a chorale.
Variation 12 - Ascending scales lead to the fugato that scurries through the theme as it bounces from one instrument group to the other while the piano runs along side. The piano thunders out broken octaves, and the orchestra has a sudden outburst and a short pause. The bare theme appears played by woodwinds and piano. The woodwinds make their final comment on the theme with the contra-bassoon having the final word before the piano scampers to the end and the final repetition of a fragment of the theme as the piano plays a glissando.

Beethoven - Violin Sonata In C Minor, Opus 30 No. 2

Ludwig van Beethoven  wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano in 1798-1812, with the first nine written in a six year period. Sonata  No. 7 is from a set of three sonatas for violin and piano, opus 30.  The opus 30 sonatas were published in 1803 with the title Three Sonatas for the Pianoforte with the Accompaniment of Violin, a nod from Beethoven to the priorities of the past, as sonatas written as such could be played with or without the violin.  Although all 4 movements of the 2nd sonata of this set begin with the piano playing solo as it introduces the thematic material, these sonatas are by no means of the earlier type. The violin part is essential to the work, if nothing else as a contrast to the piano.
The sonata is in 4 movements:

I. Allegro con brio -  A movement of high tension and drama, the piano begins solo, and as the violin takes over the theme the piano rumbles an accompaniment. Another theme is heard in the exposition along with transition material. This sprawling exposition is not repeated. Themes are worked through at length in ther development, with snatches of material being bounced from violin to piano. Beethoven doesn't limit himself to themes heard in the exposition, as he adds a new one in the development.  After more development of the first theme in a section of transition, the recapitulation begins. After the first theme, modulation of the next theme leads to yet more working out of thematic material. The first theme begins a coda that adds to an already powerful movement. The second theme is briefly touched upon, which leads to broken octaves in the piano as the violin plays fragments of the first theme. The movement builds to the furious ending of the movement.

II. Adagio cantabile - The piano begins the movement in A-flat major. The music slowly unwinds as the violin enters and the two instruments sing together.  A section in the minor mode leads back to the theme. As the violin slowly sings, the piano plays quiet runs until the music shifts gears and there are interruptions of runs in C major as the theme tries to regain the spotlight. After the final C major interruption, the theme returns as is summed up in the violin while the piano plays gentle runs.  Pizaccato chords in the violin lead to the final cadence.

III. Scherzo -  A rhythmic scherzo in C major with many accents off the beat, and that has a curious modulation to E major in the second section. Beethoven hammers out an E major chord in the piano while the violin plays two E's of the same pitch at the same time on different strings:

 The trio has the two instruments playing in counterpoint. 

IV. Finale - Allegro, presto - Rumblings from the piano that begin this movement hark back to the first movement, as does some other material.  A rondo that haas a few sections of brightness, but it mostly hammers away at the main theme.  Beethoven increases the tempo to presto in the coda as both instruments run breathless to the C minor end.

Moondog - Bird's Lament and Symphonique No. 3 'Ode To Venus'

Moondog, alias of Louis Thomas Hardin (1916-1999)  was an American composer, musician , poet and street performer.  He was blinded in a farming accident when he was sixteen. He lived as a street musician and poet in New York City from the late 1940's to 1974. He was also known as the "Viking of 6th Avenue" because he performed a lot on the corner of 6th Avenue and 53rd Street, and he dressed in clothes in imitation of the Norse God Thor and wore a horn helmet he designed himself.  He took the name Moondog sometime in the 1940's.

That Moondog was an eccentric is an understatement. But he was also a serious musician. He was basically self-taught and composed in a wide-open style that showed influences of street sounds, jazz, classical and the blues.  Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Benny Goodman and Charlie Parker all knew of him.

In his search for new sounds, he also invented musical instruments, the most famous being the Trimba, a percussion instrument.  Distraught over the death of his friend Charlie 'Bird' Parker, the famous saxophonist, Moondog wrote Bird's Lament. The piece is usually played by saxophones and percussion, but it has also been played by many other instrument combinations.

Moondog's  Bird's Lament:

Symphonique #3 (Ode To Venus) is written for chamber ensemble of strings and winds. It begins quite simply, and layer upon layer of instrumental timbers and textures until it reaches a climax and the piece ends.  Moondog's music can be simple, but the simplicity can be deceiving.  I personally find his music hard to pigeon hole, but very enjoyable.

Symhonique #3 (Ode To Venus) by Moondog:

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.2 in C Minor, ' Little Russian '

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) was a Russian composer most widely known for his orchestral music. He wrote Ballets, Operas and Symphonies and also music for piano solo and with orchestra, and  chamber music. Tchaikovsky was educated for a civil service career, but went against his family wishes and studied music at the St. Petersburg  Conservatory.  He later became a professor of Music Theory at the school.

Tchaikovsky's musical education at St. Petersburg was influenced heavily by Western and especially German music. He did not become a member of The Five,  although he did use Russian folk song material on occasion. The 2nd Symphony gets its nickname from 3 Ukranian (Little Russia) folk songs Tchaikovsky used in the Symphony.

The Symphony is in 4 movements:

• Andante sostenuto - Allegro vivo  (Slow and sustained - Lively with vigor) A solo horn plays the song, Down By Mother Volga to begin the movement. 
• Andantino marziale, quasi moderato  ( Medium fast march, kind of at a walking pace) He quotes the song, Spin, Oh My Spinner in the central section of this movement.
• Scherzo, Allegro molto vivace ( Very fast and lively) No actual folk song quoted, but has the quality of a folk song.
• Finale, Moderato assai - Allegro Vivo (Very moderately - Lively with vigor)  The folk song The Crane is the basis for a set of variations. 

Boris Shtokolov - Letter To Mother

Boris Shtokolov  ( 1930 - 2005 ) was one of the leading Bass singers in the 20th Century. He was not well-known in the west, but in his native Russia he was a star of Russian opera for over 30 years.  He also sang many Russian Folk Songs and Romances.  In a country that seems to produce more than its share of Bass singers, Shtokolov's  vocal dynamics and tone color made him unique.  His voice was what is called a Basso-Profundo, a voice dark in color and powerful.

The song 'Letter To Mother', written to words of a poem by Esenin,  is the perfect vehicle to show Shtokov's artistry and sensitive musicianship.

Boris Shtokolov sings 'Letter To Mother' to a poem by Esenin, a translation of which is below the video:

Letter To Mother

Still around, old dear? How are you keeping?
I too am around. Hello to you!
May that magic twilight ever be streaming
Over your cottage as it used to do.

People write how sad you are, and anxious
For my sake, though you won't tell them so,
And that you in your old-fashioned jacket
Out onto the highroad often go.

That you often see in the blue shadows
Ever one dream, giving you no rest:
Someone in a drunken tavern scuffle
Sticks a bandit knife into my chest.

Don't go eating your heart out with worry,
It's just crazy nonsense and a lie.
I may drink hard, but I promise, mother,
I shall see you first before I die.

I love you as always and I'm yearning
In my thoughts for just one thing alone,
Soon to ease my heartache by returning
To our humble low-roofed country home.

I'll return when decked in white the branches
In our orchard are with spring aglow.
But no longer wake me up at sunrise,
As you used to do eight years ago.

Do not waken dreams no longer precious,
Hope never fulfilled do not excite.
It was my misfortune to experience
Loss and weariness too early in my life.

Don't teach me to pray. Please, mother!
There's no going back, try as you might.
You alone give me support and comfort,
You alone glow with a magic light.

So forget your cares, please. Don't be anxious
And for my sake, dear, don't worry so.
Out onto the road in your old-fashioned
Jacket, please do not so often go.

Prokofiev - Tocatta For Piano

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was a Russian composer and a major composer of the 20th century.  Fearing there was  no place for his experimental music in his homeland, he left Russia in 1918 during the Revolution and lived various places abroad. After missing his homeland for so many years he returned to Russia in 1935 and spent the rest of his life there.

The fate of Prokofiev and his music vacillated with the Communist Party leaders from acceptance and recognition to condemnation. During the Second World War official restrictions on the type of music allowed by the government were lifted, only to see them reinstated after the war.

He wrote for orchestra and chamber ensembles, and he was also a virtuoso pianist as well as a composer, writing many pieces for the piano. The Tocatta Opus 11, was written in Russia in 1912 and premiered by the composer in 1916. The tocatta is an old form of music originating in the Renaissance in Italy.  The word is taken from the Italian word for 'touch'. It is usually written for a keyboard or other solo instrument and it emphasizes fast, nimble finger work.  Prokofiev casts his Tocatta in a modern virtuosic idiom and it is a challenge for any pianist to play.

Schoenberg - A Survivor From Warsaw

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was an Austrian composer that emigrated to America to escape Nazi Germany in 1934 and became a U.S. citizen. He was a great teacher and taught many composers and musicians in Europe before he emigrated and in America afterwards.  Schoenberg composed in many different forms from piano miniatures to complex pieces for orchestra. He is most famous (some would say notorious) for developing an entirely new way of composition based on the twelve tones of the chromatic scale, twelve tone technique

Twelve tone music has no tonal center like more conventional music.  Each tone of the chromatic scale is equal in importance harmonically and melodically with the other eleven. Schoenberg developed this 'new' system almost 100 years ago, and it is still so dramatically different from music based on tonality and keys that many cannot grasp it.  The subject matter for A Survivor From Warsaw is well suited for the music Schoenberg wrote for it.  The music is as difficult to listen to as the story itself.  The piece is for narrator, orchestra and chorus. The story depicted by the narrator:

The narrator tells the story of a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto during WW II, from the time in a concentration camp. He doesn't remember how he ended up living in the sewers of Warsaw. One day in the camp the Nazis held a roll call for a group of Jews.  As the group tried to gather the guards beat the old and sick who couldn't like up fast enough. Those left on the ground were assumed to be dead and the guards asked for another count to see how many would go to the gas chamber. The guard asks for a faster and faster head count and the work ends with the Jews singing the prayer Shema Yisroel.

Schoenberg's tribute to the victims of the holocaust - A Survivor From Warsaw